Apple seems to have trimmed the bill for making its latest iPad along with the width and weight of the tablet computer.

The iPad Air that sells in the US for 499 dollars (£310) costs Apple 274 dollars (£170) to make, based on an analysis by research firm IHS.

The figure is a 13 percent decrease from the estimated 316 dollars (£196) that it cost Apple to make the third-generation iPad introduced last year.

The iPad Air went on sale last week and IHS bought one to take apart and asses how much the parts cost.

“While the iPad Air slims down in size, the profit margins are getting fatter,” said IHS spokesman Andrew Rassweiler.

Apple declined to comment, but chief financial officer Peter Oppenheimer assured analysts in a conference call last month that Apple “is going to work really hard to get down the cost curves” of its products.